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My Journey with Parkinson’s … A Natural Approach: Post 12 … My Diet

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, whatever the outward expression of disease, the internal cause almost always relates to:

inflammation

leaky gut

acidosis

clogged up lymph system

… and diet plays an integral role in the development of, and by extension, the healing of, these conditions.

Now, I’d like to preface today’s post by telling you that I am no dietary or nutritional expert, although I’ve learned a great deal about healthy eating over the last 20 years due to food sensitivities and more recently, Parkinson’s. Having said that, I can tell you from experience that you are going to have a difficult time ‘healing’ anything if you’re not prepared to give up sugar, junk food, fast food. dairy, wheat, artificial sweeteners and the like.

There are a number dietary options that can help you in the healing process, and the specific diet you choose may depend on your condition, location and personal preference, but to begin with it needs to be natural, and ideally, organic. That means fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and maybe, meat and fish. I say maybe meat and fish because there is no consensus as to whether they are healthy or not for human consumption. The one thing I would advocate is moderation. I don’t think it is in anybody’s best interests to eat a 50 ounce steak (I saw Barbra Streisand do it recently in the movie, The Guilt Trip. (Thankfully, it’s a fictional story, but don’t get any ideas!) Nor is it ideal to eat meat at every meal.

The same holds true for raw versus cooked foods. There are lots of supporters for both. My personal opinion, I think lightly steamed veggies are fine, particularly in colder climates. The same thing with meat, don’t overcook it!

So here are what I would consider to be non-standard diets that could be, or are, intended to restore the body to homeostasis:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, determining the ideal diet can be a challenging experience. Check out 100 different experts and you’ll get 100 different opinions, each supported by reams of data from various studies. It’s critically important to do your research and go with what feels right for you.

In September, after learning about Florida Naturopath, Dr Robert Morse, and his Frutarian diet approach to alkalining the body and detoxifying the lymph system, I decided to give it a go. Although I seemed to be detoxing, I lost a lot of weight and I was hungry and cold all the time, so I decided to take a different approach. In November, I transitioned to the Ketogenic diet because of it’s anti-inflammatory results and because of its success healing cancer and epilepsy. Also, because the Keto Diet is high fat, it is also high in cholesterol which, contrary to popular belief, actually helps keep the brain healthy while slowing the progress of PD symptoms. What is more, according to Morse, cholesterol, helps neutralize acids, thus helping to keep the body in an alkaline state.

A friend of mine who has Parkinson’s is doing the Frutarian diet, and we’re going to compare notes, which I will share with you!

One of the best things I have done for my diet and health is to add fermented foods, mainly sauerkraut … homemade. Fermented foods add healthy bacteria to your gastrointestinal tract which is essential for optimum gut health and a strong immune system (80% of the immune system … Immunoglobulin A … is situated in the GI tract).

One last word on dairy and wheat (with the possible exception of organic butter) I think they’re no no’s. Because of the way they’re created and processed, they’re highly toxic and acidify the body. According to Dr Morse, they also clog up the lymph system. If you need more convincing to eliminate these foods, please read Kevin Trudeau’s book, Natural Cures.